A day before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Union Budget 2017-18, official data released on Tuesday indicates that the Centre’s fiscal math may be going awry.
The Centre’s fiscal deficit touched 94 per cent of the full year target by December 2016 while the revenue deficit breached the Budget estimate in the nine months of the fiscal, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts.
The fiscal deficit rose to 93.9 per cent of the Budget Estimate of Rs 5,01,250 crore between April and December 2016 as against the full year target of Rs 5,33,904 crore. It was significantly lower at 87.9 per cent of the target in the corresponding period a year ago.
Meanwhile, the revenue deficit shot up to Rs 3,54,296 crore or 100.1 per cent of the Budget Estimate of Rs 3,54,015 crore. It was much lower at 81.7 per cent of the full year target between April and December 2015.